TO A RAILYARD PARK
1990s
City asks TPL’s help to secure the
land for public use. In 1995, TPL
acquires 50 acres from Catellus
Development Corporation at a
substantial saving for the city,
with the understanding that at least
10 acres would
become a public park.
2009
2001
At the city’s request, TPL
assumes responsibility for planning,
fundraising, and overseeing
construction for Railyard Park and
Plaza. An international competition
for the park’s design is announced.
2002
Design competition winner
puts forth a conceptual plan that
incorporates wise use of water
and community social and
educational opportunities.
2005
TPL helps state acquire the
18-mile rail spur to Lamy as
a commuter line to be served by
a station adjacent to the new plaza.
Santa Fe Southern Railway,
which will operate an
excursion train on the new line,
donates $2.7 million to the
park project. Several hundred
prairie dogs are humanely relocated
to a wildlife refuge to make
way for construction.
2007
A public “ground renewal”
ceremony marks beginning of
park construction. Program includes
recognition of local businesses
supporting the project and poems
by schoolchildren expressing
what the new park means
to them.
2008
An estimated 20,000 people
attend dedication of the new park.
Major park features include
unearthed sections of the
Acequia Madre, a railroad-inspired
water tower holding irrigation
water from nearby roofs,
and a garden based
on Native American farming
practices from a thousand
years ago.
a rail line through the site)—met to bang out the
broad outlines of a document that would guide the
creation of the new park. “The easement was the
first pass at formulating ambitions and aspirations
for the property,” says former TPL regional director
Ted Harrison, who facilitated the group. “It was a
way to anchor ideas about the public realm” as the
project developed.
In the end, the easement committee affirmed
that the park should be primarily a place for meeting,
for reflection, and for light recreation. These uses inherently would exclude others: there would be no basketball
courts or baseball diamonds, nor should the open space
be simply a nature preserve. Completed in 1999 and
accepted by city council and legally recorded the next
year, the conservation easement forever protected the
public spaces that would be come the Railyard Park
and Plaza.
ANDREWNEIGHBOUR
When filled out with overhanging vines, pathway ramadas in the new
park will offer welcome relief from the high-desert sun.
